Re: The Googoo Hypothesis must be squashed

Piotr:
"If you examine newly coined words, expressive vocabulary, etc. -- the part of lexicon where history doesn't play much role -- sound symbolism is very much present there, in a perfectly measurable way. Onomatopoeic and iconic words may also undergo "aging" and lose their non-arbitrary shape. The "googoo hypothesis" was about the origin of language, not about the nature of phonosymbolism. There's a large literature on the latter problem and if you're interested I can provide you with references."

This is getting interesting! Yes please, post a few references.

Piotr:
"The regular use of this phenomenon in many unrelated languages is also well documented, cf. Batta jarar 'creep (in general)', jirir 'creep (of small critters)', jurur (of something big and fearsome)'."

Where is Batta spoken?

Is there something that is actually called "the googoo hypothesis"? I thought Glen made this word up.

Hakan